Julianna Faber Professor Arsenault Behavior Management Paper April 17, 2013 Introduction As I begin my journey into adulthood

and a grown up job, I have been in the process of thinking about how I will not only raise my own children, but how I will manage behavior in my own classroom. I want my students to understand that our classroom is a place where we learn in such a way that portrays appreciation, creativity, and respect for others and ourselves. While we learn we are committed to bringing out the best in one another. Throughout the years I have been to many field placements where some had students who behaved well, and some where students were not as well behaved. Even through my good and bad placements, I have learned both positive and negative reinforcements. In watching mentor teachers techniques unfold in the classroom I have learned what I will and will not use in my own classroom in order to manage my students behavior. When setting up my classroom there are many aspects that need to be incorporated in order to help the students achieve at their fullest ability. Some of these are establishing a relationship with them, setting up and implementing rules, creating and establishing procedures, having a crisis plan, carrying out ways to enhance motivation, and how I chose to lay out my classroom and the rationale behind that decision. Although there are many ways to ensure good behavior in the classroom, these are just a few that I find most important when thinking about how to set up my future classroom.

Establishing a Relationship When building a relationship with your students it is important first and foremost that they feel safe in the classroom. Within this lay trust, honesty, and respect not only from the teacher, but also from the students. As a teacher, it is important that you model these attributes for your students. In order for my students to respect me and listen to me well, I need to build a rapport with them where a relationship will then flourish. I hope that my students will not only feel as if they are in a safe environment, but that they also learn lessons that will help them throughout their lives. In order for students to desire to follow the rules and procedures, it is important that the teacher is able to form mutual respect. Looking back at my own childhood, after I was able to feel that a teacher truly had my best intentions at heart, I was then more likely to comply with the rules. In my first field placement at Rose Park Elementary, I noticed that rapport was also built over the course of a year. It begins with modeling the rules and procedures that I want my students to follow. When they see that I can and will follow the rules, they will be more likely to comply. It also begins with the agreement upon rules and being consistent with my expectations. I also hope to positively reinforce appropriate behavior in my classroom and negatively reinforce poor behavior. I will be sure to do this in a fair manner, and by fair I mean that each student will be treated in accordance to his or her own abilities.

Rules

Respect

RULES

Integrity Challenge Humility

In almost every field placement I have been in there have been rules that are clearly stated around the room. In my classroom I hope to go over rules together with my students in order that they are clear to them and they feel as if they have had some input on what the rules should be. During the first week of class I will go over the rules with the students and help explain to them that these rules are put in place to keep them safe and help to bring out the best in one another. After we have agreed upon the rules, I will have each student take home a contract to look it over with their parents. After the students have looked it over with their parents, I will have both their parents and the student sign it and bring it back to school. This is one way that I can be in both communication and agreement with my parents. Then

the parents will be informed of what the rules are and what consequences I will be upholding in my classroom. After we have had ample time to discuss the rules in my classroom I will put them up on posters for the students to be daily reminded of my expectations of them. I will have both words and pictures on cue cards/posters that will help the students not only read the rule, but also see it in action in a picture.

Procedures

Morning Entry

Use of cell phones/technology

Pencil Sharpening

Procedures
Traveling in Hallways

Dismissal

New Student

There will be many different ways in which I will help keep structure in my classroom, but having procedures for my students is one way that I can help gear toward this. When the students first walk into the classroom in the morning, I will

have them hand in any assigned papers from the previous night. They will then find their assigned seats and will silently begin to write in their journals with the prompt that is given to them on the board. This will get the kids thinking as soon as they enter the classroom and will help them to start thinking about school and shy away from thinking about home. Another one is traveling in hallways. The students will be silent, walk in a single file, and stop at traffic spot. The reason for this procedure is to help keep quiet in the hallways so they dont disrupt the other classes that are in session. Lastly I would like to talk about dismissal. In the younger ages I will dismiss them by table and the quietest one will go first. This will keep order in the classroom while they are getting ready to leave the room. Although there are many other procedures that I have witnessed work in my field placements. The dismissal and traveling in hallways procedures were two that I saw work really well in the classroom. There are many procedures that I would like to implement in the classroom, but I just have never been able see them in place or practice them. As I go into my student teaching and eventually my first year of teaching I am excited to experiment with procedures and see what ones work well.

Crisis Plan

Send student to office

Notify Parents

Crisis Plan

Send the students away

Bring students back

Help student

In the event of a crisis in my classroom there are 5 steps that I would take. The first step is to send a student to the office with a note or a crisis plan card. While that student is walking down to the office I would send the class to a neighboring classroom with a note for that teacher. Once the students have been sent away I will try to help the student to the best that I can, if possible, until reinforcement comes from the office. Once help has arrived and I feel that the classroom is safe, I will bring the students back to the classroom. After the students have been brought back to the classroom I will have the students read while I send a quick email to the parents of the misbehaving student. I will give them a quick synopsis of what happened and let them know that I will call them as soon as I can.

After I have sent this email I will talk with the students about what happened and why and what we can do to help this student. Although a crisis may never happen in my classroom as a general education teacher, it is good to have a plan incase this ever happens. It is also very important to be in contact with the parents of both the student who had an outburst and the parents of the other students.

Enhancing Motivation

Notes and phone calls home

Positive Reinforcement Tolken Economy

Negative Reinforcement

Move Seat Time out Phone call or note home

Extra time of desired activity

Verbal Praise

teachers helper tolken economy-take away tokens

Individual or class reminders

line leader

In my future classroom I hope to implement both positive and negative reinforcements. By enforcing these continually and consistently the students will be encouraged to act appropriately. This can also be another way for me to communicate with the parents and maintain a relationship with them. When their kids act with appropriate behavior in class or in a positive manner, I can send notes

home to the parents to keep in touch with them about how their students are doing with following the classroom rules. I hope to be able to do this for each student twice a month, this way when the student does act out or act poorly the parents will know that I was also observing their good behavior. Another daily form of positive reinforcement would be verbal praise. I will give my students positive reinforcements daily so they can be encouraged when I see their good behavior. Lastly, I will give implement a token economy in my classroom. This way the students can use their stars or coins to turn in for some sort of prize.

Rationale for Classroom Layout

There are many ways that a teacher can set up a classroom, and there are also many considerations that need to be kept in mind. The first part of my classroom layout that I would like to point out is the computers. The computers will be facing the classroom so that I will be able to monitor what the students are doing on them at all times. They are also in a good location so that I will be able to get to a computer quickly if anything bad should show up on the computer. In the top left corner there is a horseshoe desk where I will be able to do RTI, individual, or small group instruction. In the back center of the room there is a bookshelf and also bean bag chairs where the students can use this space as a cool down area if they need some time to regain control or decrease stress. In the front right corner is a rug area where we can have whole class discussion and instruction. In the center front of the classroom, there are five rectangular desks where four students will sit around them. I have them placed this way so that the students can turn to each other if they need help or to do group work. Lastly, I would like to mention that there are many bulletin boards around the classroom. I have these up for locations to post sight words, environmental print or posters related to a unit we are learning, or to post the rules. In my sixth grade field placement, my mentor teacher used bulletin boards to post maps and information on the slave trade because that was a unit they were learning about. Although this may not have been information that they needed to know for the test, it was extra information that they could use to write their historical narratives. The field placement I am in now also uses many bulletin boards. She currently has her

rules posted in several different locations in the classroom where the students can read them and understand what the expectation my mentor teacher has for them. Closing Remarks Although there are many different ways that a teacher can set up his or her classroom, these are some of the strategies and techniques that I have found either in my field placement or learning about in class. I find it very important to build a good rapport with your students and from there everything else will fall into place. I hope to obtain a classroom where both myself, and my students, can learn in such a way that portrays appreciation, creativity and respect. While we learn we are committed to bringing out the best in one another. I fully understand that my students will be watching me closely. In order to obtain a successful classroom, I, too, need to act respectfully, humbly and with integrity so that I can not only challenge my students, but they will challenge me and help me grow as an educator.